Top Scotland hotels
Arthur's Seat Edinburgh
48 Reviews If it's a nice day you might want to walk up to the top of Arthur's Seat (which I did on a previous visit two and a half years ago) to get some nice views of the city and the surrounding...
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George Square Glasgow
40 Reviews The City Chambers were designed by William Young in 1880, and was one of the 19th centureies finest public buildings. It took seven years to build and craftsmen were brought from Italy and France to...
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Royal Mile Edinburgh
128 Reviews Facing St Giles cathedral in the Royal Mile, there's a statue identified as "Duke of Buccleugh" that, for me, meant... no one. Trying to identify him, I read that he was Walter... something... Scott,...
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People's Palace Glasgow
18 Reviews The People's Place and Winter Gardens was worth a quick visit, although you would struggle to spend more than an hour or so here. The social history museum set inside the main building is a quirky...
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Castle Edinburgh
314 Reviews From the roof of the Museum of Scotland you can get some views out over the city, for instance of Edinburgh Castle, as shown here. For some more views, please see my Views of Edinburgh travelogue.
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Necropolis Glasgow
18 Reviews For some unconventional sightseeing, the Glasgow Necropolis found behind Glasgow Cathedral is an interesting place to visit. Crossing the bridge from the cathedral, you are transported to Glasgow's...
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Calton Hill Edinburgh
59 Reviews Calton Hill (NOT Carlton) is one of Edinburgh's main hills, set right in the city centre. Rising to 108m (355 feet) to the east end of Princes Street, Calton Hill is not the highest of the city's...
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Glasgow Cathedral Glasgow
32 Reviews Glasgow's cathedral is worth a stroll around. It has been added to over the centuries, but there has been a stone cathedral on this site since 1136 when it was dedicated in the presence of King David....
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Holyrood Edinburgh
71 Reviews If the Queen doesn't happen to be in town and there are no demonstrations in the works, you might well be able to take a tour of this palace, which is at the lower end of the Royal Mile. This palace...
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Kelvingrove Glasgow
32 Reviews If someone had asked me what is the most visited museum in the UK outside of London, I would never have guessed it is in Glasgow, but it is the Kelvingrove. It is a very impressive building of red...
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Scott Monument Edinburgh
70 Reviews On Princes Street in the center of Edinburgh there is a tall (200 feet 6 inches = 61.1 meters) monument to the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). Scott was the author of numerous books...
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Byres Rd/West End Glasgow
14 Reviews There is plenty things you can do at Byres Road. I discribe Byres Road as Small Happening Shopping Area. In the weekend you can just drop by at Hillhead Library that situated along Byres Road. After...
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Tours Edinburgh
63 Reviews * * * TIP UNDER CONSTRUCTION * * * On this, my second visit to Edinburgh, I really looked forward to finally seeing the famous underground city. For our group of 6 adults, I booked with Mercat...
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River Clyde Glasgow
14 Reviews Makes the liffey look like a wee burn this river ,mother of 90% of all the worlds metal ships in 1900 ,is a historical maritime live story. We took the cruise from under central station to the...
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Greyfriars Edinburgh
32 Reviews Greyfriar's Bobby was a little dog, who until this day has remained the symbol for utmost loyalty in Edinburgh. This faithful Skye Terrier mourned his master for 14 years and has become a much-loved...
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Tours Glasgow
12 Reviews I'm a big fan of CitySightseeing tours and have used them in other cities before so I was pleased to find out that they operate a tour in Glasgow. The beauty of these bus tours is that you can hop off...
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National Museum and Gallery of Scotland Edinburgh
44 Reviews As the name suggests, the country's national museum. It is located in a modern purpose built building on 7 levels (top one just being a roof terrace). Entry is free. Donations are welcomed (as...
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Museums Glasgow
14 Reviews This museum is situated in one of the buildings of Glasgow University. It features the collections of the Scottish obstetrician and teacher, Dr William Hunter. You cannot help but be intrigued by many...
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Old Town Edinburgh
34 Reviews Under the City Chambers on the Royal Mile are hidden streets where people lived and worked for centuries. When the Royal Exchange (now the City Chambers) was constructed in 1753, the top floors of the...
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The Barras Glasgow
8 Reviews Held every Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM, the Barras Market is a gigantic outdoor and indoor flea market. It's best to get here early in the morning before it gets crowded. You can get...
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Princes Street Edinburgh
57 Reviews Maybe a unique feature of the city? The gardens extend almost the whole length of one side of the city's main street. They separate the new town from the old. The area was a loch originally and was...
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Shopping Glasgow
20 Reviews Anyone who knows me well, knows that one of my favourite pastimes is shopping! And Glasgow really is a great place to shop. Its second only to London in the UK for shopping. The main shopping streets...
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St Giles Cathedral Edinburgh
43 Reviews Edinburgh can often be gray and rainy, but there are numerous interesting things to do and see even on wet days: we visited the cathedral on such a day and were quite intrigued by its interiors and...
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Glasgow University Glasgow
19 Reviews The University of Glasgow was founded in 1451, by Bishop Turnbull. The names on the gate are of notable alumni over the years and include Lord Kelvin, Joseph Lister and Adam Smith. The second photo...
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Eating and Drinking Edinburgh
26 Reviews Food in Edinburgh... hmmm... well, I suppose to the local Scots and Perhaps even the English the selection is fabulous and the prices are fine. To anyone from farther away they likely will find an...
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If you have enough of the busy city streets for a while, you can opt for a walk up Arthur’s Seat (especially nice on a sunny afternoon). This large hill lies close to the Old Town and offers a very nice view of Edinburgh and the surrounding area. The path, which can be a bit strenuous for some, starts close to Holyrood House.
When walking on the Royal Mile you cannot miss the ticket booths for ghostwalk tickets. A ghostwalk during the evening hours (duration of most walks is approx. 1 hour) is really to be recommended. The walks have different themes, but the general idea is that the one who is leading the group tells you “terrible” stories from the past and leads you to the scariest places of the Old Town, dark alleys and corners as well as the many underground vaults that lie beneath the city streets. Abandoned nearly 200 years ago, these atmospheric chambers have been recently discovered and excavated. You are lead through candlelit tunnels and dark, gloomy passages, while several frightening and creepy tales are told. It is really incredible how many vaults and underground locations can be found in the city.
Edinburgh Castle is one of the largest and most important castles of Scotland. It towers the city and is the most important landmark of the area. Within the castle walls, you can find several areas and buildings, dating from different periods of time. Several museums are located here as well. Next to the castle buildings themselves, most impressive are the Scottish Crown Jewels (prepare to queue here, during peak season) and a very large War Memorial.
Especially in the southern part of Scotland, you can find many remnants of old Abbeys. We visited Jedburgh Abbey in the town of (how surprisingly) Jedburgh, south of Edinburgh. Although only walls remain of the Abbey, this is nevertheless a very impressive site.Another famous abbey in the area is Melrose Abbey.
A trip to Scotland would not be complete without whisky. Most whisky distilleries can be found southeast of Inverness in the area called Speyside as well as the surrounding areas.Of course you should visit at least one of the many whisky distilleries during your stay. If you have the chance, visit the distillery of Dallas Dhu, which is no longer active and is turned into a museum run by Historic Scotland. The advantage is that you can visit everything and look at things from really up close, unlike some other distilleries where work is in progress. Another nice distillery is Dalwhinnie which is located in Strathspey and lies alongside the mainroad from Edinburgh/Stirling to Inverness/Aviemore.Since there can be found so much information on whisky on the Internet, I will leave it at this.
Close to Fort William you can find Loch Shiel, one of the many great lochs/lakes of Western Scotland. This place is a rather standard, but a nice photo stop on a trip through this area. From the viewpoint at the head of the loch you have a great view over the water, with the statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the forefront. When you look the other way, you see the world famous Glenfinnan Railway Viaduct, this stone crescent-form viaduct is quite impressive and can be found in many books and movies. (e.g. the train scenes of the Harry Potter movies)The picture to the left comes from the scotland-heritage site.
Stirling is a nice town located halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The city has a lot of atmosphere, with many historic buildings, but most important is Stirling Castle. This castle is one of the most important Scottish castles from an historic point of view, and a very impressive building as well. The castle will mostly be remembered because of the close by Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, where Robert the Bruce lead Scotland to its greatest victory ever over the English.
The town of Inverness lies at the east shore of Scotland at the east end of Loch Ness. The town is mainly a tourist hub and, together with Fort William in the west of the Highlands, the major point of departure for discovering the Highland area. The town has a nice cathedral, a rather new “castle/mansion” and a very large tourist information centre. However, I would say that the location of Inverness is more attractive than the town itself.Some nice small visitor suggestions in the neighbourhood of Inverness are: the fortress of Fort Augustus, the battlefield of Culloden (where in 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie was defeated by the English) and the medium sized prehistoric site of Clava Cairns, all of which can be found to the southeast of Inverness. We visited all three in one afternoon after a morning visit to Inverness.
Not far from Elgin. Spynie Palace was a residence of the Bishops of Moray. The existing ruins date from the early 1400's and the later 1700's. The original residence was built in 1207. The tower called David´s tower after Bishop David Stewart. He used the tower as his private residence. Spynie has passed through several hands and families.The ruins were returned to the state in 1973. The surrounding ranges contained hall, kitchens and more.This picture is a view inside during a marriage. Once I was invited for this Scottish marriage there. It was a great scenery for me as German guest.
The Stones of Stennes are 3 slabs of stones that stand erected in a meadow. Although the site is limited in size, these stones are very impressive, especially when you walk up to them and they really make you wonder about why and how……Once the Stones of Stennes were known as the Temple of the Moon and closeby Ring of Brodgar as the Temple of the Sun.
The Balmoral Hotel Edinburgh
5 Reviews and 770 Opinions Two men wearing kilts (or trews) welcome you at the door and an open fire welcomes you in the lobby,...
Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens Glasgow
1 Review and 352 Opinions One Devonshire Gardens is a class of its own.Fabulous rooms with four poster beds,tubs you could...
Skene House Rosemont Hotel Aberdeen
1 Review and 247 Opinions Skene House Apartments was so nice, an impressive layout , nice bedrooms !, Fantastic and modernised...
Reviews and photos of Scotland attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Scotland sightseeing.
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Q: Hello Lovely site indeed. Great resource. I plan on spending 11 days in Scotland and just wanted some advice. FYI: I have...
A: I can't address all your questions, but wonder if you want a full day on Loch Lomond unless you plan on boating, fishing, etc. One of the ways we dealt with not having a...
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